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I wake up this morning with Take Me Home, Country Roads stuck in my head. Not because I decided to go on a John Denver bender. Alert the authorities if that occurs. It's stuck in my head because West Virginia University alum Adam Jones decided to lead us in song on the way out of an absurd Beyond The Stripes last night from Moerlein Lager House.

In fact, the whole stinkin' beer garden was singing it by the end. About the only way you could close a show that included an Adam Jones rap, Lindsay not being able to come up with the name of the coach of the Bengals during a particularly tense moment of Taboo-Football and Doc actually singing the Bengals touchdown song.

Just a delightfully weird show.

Enquirer Sports Beyond the Stripes presented by Josephauto.com from the Moerlein Lager House with Bengals' Cornerback Adam Jones.
The Enquirer/Glenn Hartong

In the midst of insanity, I turned the topic to Jones and his troubled past. If you don't know what I'm talking about, it's well-documented, I'm not delving into that here. You can browse the Wikipedia page if you'd like.

Since arriving in Cincinnati, Jones has stayed primarily on the straight and narrow and even become a spokesman for the league at the rookie symposium. When a kid from the inner city looking to party a little too much comes into the Bengals' locker room, Jones is the one who straightens him out.

"Because I know all the signs," he said.

He was poignant about what he tells younger guys who enter the locker room with the same attitude he had.

"My main thing I tell the younger guys is cherish the moment. Everybody talking about I'm hood, I'm this, I'm gangsta. Well, all the hood or gangsta guys I know are either dead or in jail. I didn't get no money in the hood, I've gotten no money from it. I got my money from changing my life and being a professional and treating people with respect. If you treat people with respect it goes a long way."

I had to wonder when this happened. When did he transform from "Make It Rain" and criminal trials and suspensions to this person discussing how to teach respect in front of us.

"When I had my second little girl," he said. "It was a very hard time for me. She came five months early. Mentally, just drained. The doctor telling us two times she wasn't going to make it. Then you realize life is way bigger than the nonsense. When I had Triniti my life changed dramatically."

Triniti came in at 2.1 pounds and Jones says they spent seven months in the hospital. Certainly Jones has still found himself in the middle of situations since arriving in Cincinnati, but - it should be noted - not actually convicted of anything. Point being, you never know what will trigger a change inside some people and he's the latest example of a player the Bengals have been lucky be helping make that turnaround.

ON TAP TODAY

The first big Wednesday of the year. We have open locker room, press conferences with Andy Dalton and Marvin Lewis as well as conference calls with John Harbaugh and new Ravens WR Steve Smith. Make sure you are following myself (@pauldehnerjr) and Skinny (@nkyskinner) on Twitter for any updates or revelations as we learn them.

Much thanks to the followers and readers in the UK. Appreciate the question. Hopefully, Roger does me a solid and I can meet you next year if the league ships the Bengals overseas for a game.

As for your question, we witnessed the beauty of social media yesterday. Defensive tackle Kevin Vickerson, who was in for a visit, sent out an Instagram post with a Bengals shirt and thankful caption. Suddenly, "Vickerson is a Bengal." The 31-year-old with 25 starts the last two years for Denver may well still end up in Cincinnati, but the team had zero to announce.

Guess what happened since? The post was deleted. So, it's still status quo on the free agent addition front as of 10 a.m. on Wednesday. We all have to proceed with caution on this stuff.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Season Preview Spectacular edition of the Scribe Session podcast went up yesterday. I break out the new four-mic equipment for the first time for a sit down with the Bengals radio team of Dan Hoard and Dave Lapham. Also, Skinny and I talk about cuts, Baltimore and offer you fantasy football fix.

If you are only interested in the Lap, Dan, Paul, Skinny roundtable scroll forward to the 27-minute mark.

Also, you can now listen to the podcast on our Bengals app. Where you can also read our tweets, see Beyond The Stripes, run through the roster, read every story, every blog, follow the gamecast, scroll photo galleries and be alerted whenever news breaks. Seriously, people, if you don't have the app I don't know what to tell you.